'Four Tenors' - Four wines from Italy

 Ah, Italy!

I've visited Italy a few times - when I was backpacking (in the 1980s), with our kids during a teacher exchange in 2000, and with my wife in 2014 (where this photo of Pompeii is from). 

Italy has so much going for it - culture, history, food, and, of course, wine!

Italy is the world's largest producer of wine and it has the most varietals of grapes at more than 500, of which 350 are approved for making wine. Italy is also one of the few countries where 'reserve' (or 'riserva') actually means something - aged for a specific amount of time, depending on the type of wine and method of fermenting. Unfortunately, at the BC Liquor store, they just can't carry all of those varietals - but I did manage to taste a few different ones over the past month and I thought I would share what I thought of the four Italian 'tenors' that I tasted. 

The first was a 2016 Custom Superiore Bianco Monte Del Fra  Cà Del Magro (on sale at BC Liquor for $20). This white wine is a blend of Garganega (used to make wines from Soave), Trebbiano Toscano, Cortese (used in wines from Gavi), and Incrocio Manzoni (a crossing between Riesling and Pinot Blanc). These grapes are grown in the Verona region which is in the north of Italy and are more than 30 years old. Happily, it features a monk character on the bottle (he's also on another wine by Monte Del Far but, in that one, he is holding an umbrella)!

Here are the tasting notes for this wine:

Appearance - Clear, medium, lemon.

Nose - Medium plus intensity, clean, aromas of pineapple, banana, peach, apricot, pear, caramel, vanilla, butter, cheese, honey, toast, hay, and passionfruit. 

Palate - Dry, medium acidity, medium alcohol, medium body, medium plus flavour intensity, medium finish with tastes of pineapple, lemon, peach, better, honey, apricot, cheese, and pear. 

Evaluation - There was a lot going on with this wine. The flavours and aromas were very complex but did not impact the overall freshness and fruitiness of this wine. It was balanced, intense, complex and had good length. I could see this going very well with seafood, chicken, pasta, a nice charcuterie board, and a Sunday afternoon spent with friends. Overall, this wine was Very Good. 

The next wine - well - I guess you could say I put it on a pedestal....

Nebbiolo (which also happens to be my daughter's dog's name) is a powerful grape from the Piedmont region of Italy. Famous for its 'tar and roses' characteristic, it can be so tannic and powerful that it needs literally decades to be drinkable. Luckily, producers have found ways (like extended maceration)  to make this grape drinkable in a shorter timeframe. 

This one was a 2017 Langhe Nebbiolo (considered by some to be 'Baby Nebbiolo') from Giovanni Rosso ($30 from BC Liquor)

Appearance: Clear, medium, ruby - leaning towards garnet. Nebbiolo is always lighter in colour than you'd expect from a powerful wine. 

Nose: Clean with medium intensity with aromas of tar, a hint of roses, red cherry, red plum, blueberry, black pepper, cedar, cooked fruit, smoke, and leather. 

Palate: Dry with medium plus to high tannins, medium acidity, high alcohol, medium plus body, medium plus intensity of flavours, and a great, big, wonderful long finish. There were some interesting tastes but was not overly fruity - tar, black cherry, leather, smoke, tobacco and cedar. 

Evaluation: This wine was amazing, especially for the price. It had good balance, incredible length, and strong intensity with fairly complex tastes. You almost need to have food with this wine, as it was fairly strong. I would rate this one as a Very Good Plus - not quite Outstanding due to the still strong tannins and the complexity but if it  could sit for a few more years, who knows?

Courtesy decanter.com

Passimento is a word the comes from the Italian Appassimento which means drying harvested wine grapes on bamboo racks or straw mats for weeks to months. This process concentrates the sugars and the flavours of the grape. The most famous is probably Amarone which costs $50 and up so when I had a chance to try this version - at around $15 - I leapt at the opportunity. 

The wine was a 2017 Famiglia Pasqua Romeo and Juliet Passimento from Veneto (currently on sale at BC Liquor for $14). The grapes used are Merlot, Corvina (used to make Valpolicella)  and Croatina. The grapes are dried and aged separately so the blend is put together after vinification. I was excited about trying this (despite the hideous label) but was a bit disappointed in the final product - although it was a great deal for the price. 

Appearance: Clear, deep, ruby.

Nose: Clean, medium intensity, flavours of cooked fruit, fig, prune, raisins, jamminess, black currant, perfume, black cherry, black pepper, toast, vanilla, and cedar. 

Palate: dry with medium plus acidity, medium minus tannins, high alcohol, full body, medium intensity of flavours and medium plus length. Flavours of black cherry, vanilla, fig, plum, black pepper, and tobacco. 

Evaluation: I was a little bit disappointed because after so many wonderful aromas, the diversity of flavours tasted was considerably less.  It had OK balance, great length, good intensity of flavour, and was fairly complex. This was a wine that would pair well with food and I would rate it between Good and Very Good. 

The final 'tenor' of the group was a Fontana Fredda 2018 Briccotondo from Piedmont (on sale right now at BC Liquor for $17). This wine was made with the Barbera grape which, surprisingly, is the third most planted grape in Italy! It was actually the number 2 grape, but in 1985, Barbera producers added Methanol to their wine to boost alcohol levels which killed over 30 people and caused many to go blind. Fortunately, the scandal is long behind us and Barbera is a great varietal that should be tried. 

Appearance: Clear, medium, ruby

Nose: Medium plus intensity, clean, aromas of violets, jam, baked fruit, stewed cherry, raisin, fig, blackberry, blueberry, black plum, pepper, vanilla, coffee, and smoke. 

Palate: Dry with medium plus acidity, medium tannins, high alcohol, medium body, medium plus intensity, medium finish. Tastes of blackberry, blueberry, plum, pepper, jamminess, fig, vanilla, smoke, cedar, charred wood, and spice. 

Evaluation: This was definitely a food wine which has many diverse aromas which are reflected in the flavours as well. It was a balanced wine that was complex and intense with fairly good length. I would rate this wine as Very Good. 

Well, there they are - four Italian 'tenor' wines and all are well worth the price. And, after having a few glasses, maybe you'll be singing like Luciano! 

This summer, why not book a tour with me at Wine and Then Somm Wine Tours? I would be happy to meet you in Kelowna or Penticton and take you, in the comfort of your own vehicle, anywhere in the Okanagan to try some local, wonderful wines! Book today!

Black Hills Revisited - A Quartet of Fabulous Reds

Black Hills Estate Winery in Oliver is famous in BC wine history. It was started in 1995 by two couples in Vancouver who wanted to grow grapes in the Okanagan. After selling their grapes for a few years, in 1999 they decided to make their own wine. Nota Bene is their flagship Bordeaux blend and began their amazing journey in the wine industry. For a time, they were famous for their quonset hut tasting room but now they have a beautiful tasting room with wonderful mountain views. state 

The last time I was at Black Hills was in 2015 when I was in Osoyoos on a family holiday. My daughter came along with my wife and I (meanwhile, my son was enduring a nasty case of mono in the hotel room) and we had the premium tasting which was a sit down tasting where a 'wine-evangelist' would talk to us, at length, about each wine we were going to taste. It was $25 per person but I remember that they had no problem with us splitting a glass three ways! It was a wonderful afternoon and we loved the tasting.

That experience really stands out for two reasons - one, they were actually charging for a premium tasting, something that few wineries did 6 years ago - certainly not $25 - and two, you got to sit down and really chat with the person doing the tasting. That was also unheard of 6 years ago but has become much more prevalent during Covid. However, I think that people really enjoy the sit down tastings and they are here to stay. Despite seeing fewer people for tastings because of the sit down style (which takes longer and takes up more room), wineries are selling more bottles of wine and making more money than in previous years. And consumers definitely win. 

We signed up for a Valentine special pack of 3 wines and, because we wanted to avoid paying shipping (and also wanted and excuse to go for a nice drive) we drove the 90 minutes down to the winery. Also, when the person from the winery took our order over the phone, she encouraged us to come down for a complementary tasting. 'Nuff said!

By the way, their 'Portfolio Flight' (reds and whites) is normally $15 and their 'Red Flight' (surprisingly just red wines) is $20. Each wine glass has 2 ounces of wine - a rather generous serving!

We started off with their 2018 Carnemere - usually only available to their wine club. I do love a nice Carmenere and it is a wine that is not that prevalent in BC (only 4 wineries make it, all around Black Hills). Carmenere is a grape with a bit of a funny story. It was one of the original six grapes of Bordeaux but has since fallen out of favour. Actually, it was first destroyed in much of Europe (in fact, it was thought to be extinct) by the nasty phylloxera bug but wasn't terribly missed in Bordeaux. Meanwhile, it had been taken to Chile and was growing in the vineyards with Merlot and Cab Sauv. The only thing is, people just thought it was Cab or Merlot. It wasn't until 1991 that a winemaker questioned this and, after genetic tasting, it was discovered that Carmenere, the grape that was thought to be extinct, was actually thriving in Chile. 

And they also grow it in BC!

The 2018 Carmenere ($60) that we tried had medium plus acidity, lots of red fruit, and tastes of pepper and green olive. It was enjoyable but tight. I think I will lay this one down for 4 or 5 years so that it rounds out. Good to Very Good. 

Next was the 2017 Syrah ($40). We have a bottle on 2016 Syrah in our cellar and our wine guide said that the 2016 is much fruitier thane the 2017. The 2017 had tastes of leather, earthiness, barnyard, and mushroom as well as some baked fruits. It is quite the different taste and a great reflection on how vintages are (and should be) different. I've always enjoyed Syrah and this was a great one - and ready to drink now! Very Good. 

I hadn't tried their 2018 Addendum ($50) before. This wine is a right bank style Bordeaux blend with 86% Merlot and 14% Cab Franc. When Merlot is crappy, it's a terrible wine, but when it is balanced, ripe, and not sweetened, it can make a great wine. This wine was that kind of Merlot with the addition of Cab Franc to give some structure to the wine. This wine was so soft and round that I was amazed. It had some perfume on the nose and was a fruity wine with some bell pepper that was really smooth on the palate. I guess you could hang onto this wine for a few years but we bought two bottles, fully expecting to drink them this year.  Outstanding.

Finally, the big guy - the 2018 Nota Bene ($60). This rich, tannic, bold Bordeaux style blend is a nod to the left bank of Bordeaux. It is a mix of Cab Sauv (49%), Merlot (41%), Cab Franc (3%) and Petit Verdot (1%). This is a complex wine with lots of different black fruits riding atop some pretty strong tannins. This one should wait a few years so it can loosen up - but I am not certain I can wait that long! I also have a 2015 Nota Bene so I am tempted to do a vertical - can anyone send me the missing years? Outstanding. 

I have to say that we really enjoyed our tasting at Black Hills (once again). The wine guide was knowledgable and told us interesting stories about the wines, not just the wine flavours. The setting is beautiful and the building itself is very nice inside. I am guessing that a lot less time will pass before I go to Black Hills again!

This summer, why not book a tour with me at Wine and Then Somm Wine Tours? I would be happy to meet you in Kelowna or Penticton and take you, in the comfort of your own vehicle, to Black Hills o anywhere else in the Okanagan to try some local, wonderful wines! Book today!